Dakota Staton (June 3, 1930 – April 10, 2007)[Fox, Margalit (April 13, 2007). " Dakota Staton, 76, Jazz Singer With a Sharp, Bluesy Sound, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved on April 16, 2007.]
Biography
Born in the Homewood neighborhood of
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, she attended George Westinghouse High School,
and studied music at the Filion School of Music in Pittsburgh. Later she performed regularly in the Hill District, a jazz hotspot, as a vocalist with the Joe Westray Orchestra, a popular Pittsburgh orchestra. She next spent several years in the nightclub circuit in such cities as
Detroit,
Indianapolis,
Cleveland and St. Louis. While in New York, she was noticed singing at a
Harlem nightclub called the Baby Grand by
Dave Cavanaugh, a producer for
Capitol Records. She was signed and released several singles, her success leading her to win
Down Beat magazine's "Most Promising Newcomer" award in 1955. In 1958, Staton wed
Talib Dawud,
a black
Antigua-born
Ahmadi Muslim, a
jazz trumpeter and noted critic of
Elijah Muhammad.
[Claude Clegg. An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad, St. Martin's Griffin, 1997, p. 132.] She subsequently converted to Islam and used the name Aliyah Rabia for some time.
The marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
She released several critically acclaimed albums in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including: The Late, Late Show (1957), whose title track was her biggest hit, In the Night (1958), a collaboration with pianist George Shearing, Dynamic! (1958) and Dakota at Storyville (1962), a live album recorded at the Storyville jazz club in Boston. In the mid-1960s Staton moved to England, where she recorded the album Dakota ′67. Returning to the US in the early 1970s,[ Dakota Staton biography , Pittsburgh Music History.] she continued to record semi-regularly, her recordings taking an increasingly strong Gospel music and blues influence. She suffered a stroke in 1999, after which her health deteriorated.
Discography
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The Late, Late Show (Capitol, 1957)
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Dynamic! (Capitol, 1958)
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In the Night with George Shearing (Capitol, 1958)
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Time to Swing (Capitol, 1959)
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More Than the Most (Capitol, 1959)
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Crazy He Calls Me (Capitol, 1959)
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Sings Ballads and the Blues (Capitol, 1960)
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Softly (Capitol, 1960)
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Dakota (Capitol, 1960)
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'Round Midnight (Capitol, 1961)
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Dakota at Storyville (Capitol, 1962)
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From Dakota with Love (United Artists, 1962)
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Live and Swinging (United Artists, 1964)
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Dakota Staton with Strings (United Artists, 1964)
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Dakota '67 (London, 1966)
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I've Been There (Verve, 1970)
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Madame Foo-Foo (Groove Merchant, 1972)
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I Want a Country Man (Groove Merchant, 1973)
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Ms. Soul (Groove Merchant, 1974)
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Uniquely Dakota (Half Moon, 1983)
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No Man Is Going to Change Me (GP, 1985)
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Dakota Staton with Manny Albam (LRC, 1990)
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Dakota Staton (Muse, 1991)
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Moonglow (LRC, 1991)
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Darling Please Save Your Love for Me (Muse, 1992)
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Isn't This a Lovely Day (Muse, 1995)
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Congratulations (Giants of Jazz, 1999)
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A Packet of Love Letters (HighNote, 1999)
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Congratulations to Someone (LRC, 2002)
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Live at Milestones (Caffe Jazz, 2007)
External links
